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FRONTLINE; Post Mortem

02/01/2011

Post Mortem


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Series
FRONTLINE
Program
Post Mortem
Program Number

2907 HD 001

Series Description

Premiered January 1983 Since January 1983, FRONTLINE has served as American public television's - PBS - flagship public affairs series. Hailed upon its television broadcast debut as "the last best hope for broadcast documentaries," FRONTLINE's stature over 23 years is reaffirmed each week through incisive documentaries covering the scope and complexity of the human experience. Series release date: 1/1983

Program Description

Every day nearly 7,000 people die in America. And when these deaths happen suddenly, or under suspicious circumstances, we assume there will be a thorough investigation, just like we see on CSI. But the reality is very different. In over 1,300 counties across America, elected coroners, many with no medical or scientific background, are in charge of death investigations. Nationwide there is a severe shortage of competent forensic pathologists to do autopsies. The rate of autopsies -- the gold standard of death investigation -- has plummeted over the decades. As a result, not only do murderers go free and innocent people go to jail, but the crisis in death investigation in America is also a threat to public health. FRONTLINE correspondent Lowell Bergman reports the results of a joint investigation with ProPublica, NPR, and the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley.

Duration

00:56:10

Asset Type

Broadcast program

Media Type

Video

Genres
Documentary
Topics
News
Public Affairs
Citation
Chicago: “FRONTLINE; Post Mortem,” 02/01/2011, GBH Archives, accessed October 25, 2024, http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_4EF09A21CBA94CB7A87CA7AC1FB54B81.
MLA: “FRONTLINE; Post Mortem.” 02/01/2011. GBH Archives. Web. October 25, 2024. <http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_4EF09A21CBA94CB7A87CA7AC1FB54B81>.
APA: FRONTLINE; Post Mortem. Boston, MA: GBH Archives. Retrieved from http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_4EF09A21CBA94CB7A87CA7AC1FB54B81
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